The weekend that was meant to mark the start of the two-day stint of the competition will see most sides looking to the lower grades to fill their first 11.

Some teams will wait until late Friday to determine their final sides as they wait on COVID test results and the make-up of the Greater Northern Raiders side before settling their sides.

It shapes as the new normal with the recommended advice from Cricket Tasmania and Cricket North is to fill first-grade with enough well-players from lower grades and forfeit the lower grades if they can not be filled.

Alongside this clubs are being asked to adhere to follow the government rules and their club's COVID plans.

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Launceston is one of the clubs set to look to the lower grades to fill their starting line-up with some regular first-grade players in isolation and one of the biggest providers of Raiders players in the competition.

"It'll be an interesting weekend of cricket because there'll be a lot of changes with players in and out," coach Andy Gower said.

"We can just control what we can control and we'll pick the best side available given the numbers and just do our best on game day.

"There's a lot bigger things going on today in the world then cricket, with the environment we're in, it's a sombre world at the moment."

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The Lions are scheduled to face Mowbray at NTCA No.1 seeking to remedy their disappointing end to 2021.

"We were disappointed with the way we ended 2021 and we've basically wiped that off and we start fresh in 2022," Gower said.

"It's really a focus in the new year to get the batters to generate some big scores and not just be happy with 40s and 50s ... to bat some long time at the crease and get some more runs on the board."

The Eagles are another side facing their own COVID-19 concerns and will turn to some new players to breach the gap.

"We've certainly got a few regular players that will be unavailable ... some lower grade players will come up to first and second grade and hopefully they can play a role," Mowbray captain Luke Scott said.

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Despite the club being forced to wade into the murky waters created by the COVID situation, the Eagles are eager to start on a winning note.

"From a club point of view, we're hoping to try and get our season back on in the right direction and get some momentum going after Christmas which hopefully starts this weekend," Scott said.

The weekend's other fixture will see Riverside welcome South Launceston to their home deck for their 2022 opener.

The Blues made no secret at the end of last year that the two-day format had their full focus and will get to put that on display against the Knights.

"We want to have our top-order in there throughout the middle of the day, we don't want to be five down before lunch or anything like that," Riverside coach Lyndon Stubbs said.

"We'll give ourselves some more time but the fundamentals are still there or they stay the same."

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